【推荐1】Are you able to tell if people are lying? There is a piece of good news that a technology company is developing a lie detector app for smart phones that could be used by parents, teachers and Internet daters. The app measures blood flow in the face to assess whether or not you are telling the truth. Its developers say that it could be used for Internet daters wanting to see if somebody really is interested in them. Parents could use it on their children to see if they are lying, and teachers could work out which pupils are truthful.

The app is being developed by Toronto startup NuraLogix and the app is called Transdermal Optical Imaging. The idea is that different human feelings create different facial blood flow patterns that we have no control over. These patterns change if we are telling the truth or telling a lie. Using footage from the smart phone camera, the app will see the changes in skin colour and compare them to standardized results.

A study finds that anger is connected with more facial blood flow and redness while sadness is connected with less of both.

Kang Lee, who has been researching the field for 20 years, said that the lie detector test will let you find out the truth remotely and secretly. He said: “It could be very useful, for example, for teachers. A lot of our students have math anxiety, but they do not want to tell us because that’s embarrassing.”

Lee added that the technology would not replace lie detectors used in a court of law. He said: "They want the accuracy to be extremely high, like genetic tests---a one-in-a-million error rate. Our technique won't be able to achieve an extremely high accuracy level, so because of that, I don't think it's useful for the courts. He added that it will be a few years before the dating app is available to consumers.

【推荐2】After COVID-19, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that while the number of nurses has increased in the past three years, there is still a shortage of registered nurses, and that there will be over one million unfilled nursing jobs. So what’s the solution? Robots.

Japan is ahead of the curve when it comes to this trend. Toyohashi University of Technology has developed Terapio, a robotic medical cart that can make hospital rounds, and deliver medicines and other items . This type of robot will likely be one of the first to be used in hospital.

Robots capable of social engagement help with loneliness as well as cognitive (认知) functioning. Telepresence robots such as MantaroBot, Vgo, and Giraff can be controlled through a computer, smartphone, or tablet, allowing family members or doctors to remotely monitor patients or Skype (网络电话) them. If you can’t get to the nursing home to visit grandma, you can use a telepresence robot to hang out with her.

A robot’s appearance affects its ability to successfully interact with humans, which is why the Human-Interactive Robot Research decided to develop a robotic nurse that looks like a huge teddy bear. RIBA, also known as “Robear, ” can help patients into and out of wheelchairs and beds with its strong arms.

On the less cute and more scary side there is Actroid F, which has such soft skin and natural hair color that some patients may not know the difference. This conversational robot companion has cameras in its eyes, which allow it to track patients and use appropriate facial expressions and body language in its interactions.

It’s important to note that robotic nurses don’t decide courses of treatment or make diagnoses. Instead, they perform routine and laborious tasks, freeing nurses up to attend to patients with immediate needs. This is one industry where it seems the integration of robots will lead to cooperation, not replacement.